I just read that Nomar Garciaparra is retiring from baseball. No big surprise there. I’m surprised he made the sentimental choice to sign a one-day contract with the Red Sox so that he could “retire” from his old team. (I just turned on his “live” televised press conference – He’s sitting between Theo Epstein and Larry Lucchino talking about how great the Red Sox are. This is weird!)
What I’m shocked by is that Nomar will now become a baseball analyst on ESPN, apparently on “Baseball Tonight.” That’s even more weird.
Nomar is about as ill-suited to for that role as one can imagine. He’s never been able to speak spontaneously in front of the cameras. He’s been uncomfortable with the media. (At times, he’s despised the media) I feel Nomar could have joined the conversation between “Crash” Davis and “Nuke” Laloosh in Bull Durham, when Crash is explaining the art of using cliched phrases to bullshit with baseball writers.
I closely followed Nomar on the Red Sox. It was a joy to watch him play during his early career before everything went south for him in 2004. (The downward trend probably started a bit before that….) But, Nomar was terrible with the sportswriters – both print and broadcast. He could never relax with reporters, and, as a result, he’d give answers that were so boring and empty that it was frustrating to endure. Then, through the years, Nomar grew tired of the Boston baseball writers and their intense scrutiny and frequent criticism of the team – or, questions he perceived as “negative” about himself. I can understand players growing tired of the media around here. They can be obnoxious. They often report and write with a “pack mentality” – piling on, as a herd of conformists. So, yeah, when Nomar ran into hard times and injuries and his attitude soured, he encountered tougher times with the press.
But……having said all that, Nomar’s approach with the media was poor. He never opened up. He grew more cautious and closed to even a ridicolous level. He wouldn’t even acknowledge if the sun was out. In the end, just when he needed some authenticity and candor most to counter the extreme criticism and over-simplified characterizations of him as a player in the first half of 2004, he shut down almost completely. I remember the day he was traded, it was truly sad to see this star – who seemed a good guy as well – leave town one night with no press conference or any event to mark the occasion. By then, Nomar’s aura had changed – along with his baseball abilities. Hell, his departure, helped the Sox win the 2004 World Series.
But, how can ESPN believe that Nomar – now – will suddenly have much interesting to say? How can Nomar be expected to open up and comment free-ly on his fellow players when he was predisposed to say nothing even in his best period as a player? Nomar strikes me as an athlete who saves his most authentic comments for off-camera or off-the-record.
I am tired of players and ex-players getting hired as analysts when they don’t have anything to offer.
I could write another blog or two on Nomar as a player. His descent was so rapid and jarring that it was hard to not speculate that he had taken some kind of performance-enhancing drugs at some point. Nomar, at his best, was so good that people were sure he’d go down not only as one of the greatest in Red Sox history, but, in all of baseball. Ted Williams, before he died, thought Nomar was destined to join a tiny, special group of baseball greats.
As for Nomar’s stint on ESPN, I’ll be surprised if it lasts more than one season!
